The ex-Scuderia Ferrari/ Scuderia Filipinetti/ Manfredini & Moretti Mount Fuji-race winning Private Portfolio No. 036
1969/71 Ferrari 512M/F Sport Prototipo Chassis no. 1022
Engine no. 261C N.42
Price on request
The 512S and its M evolution were the very last exalted products of a long dynasty of Ferrari sports prototypes both raced by the factory and available to its customers; a line that stretched across the incredibly intense, frantic development that took place at Maranello in the 1960s, from the earliest rear/ mid-engined endurance racers such as the 196SP, 250P, 330P and short lived 1969 312P, and culminated with the 512 at a time when the merger with Fiat changed the picture and Ferrari decided to react to the Porsche 917’s surprise launch at the 1969 Geneva Salon. Ferrari deemed the subsequent 3 litre 312PB introduced in 1971 upon the announcement of the 3 litre cap for 1972 too complex and pricey to run for privateers, so the 512s became the last of an era. Soon after the 917's introduction at Geneva in March 1969 the engineering team led by Mauro Forghieri was briefed to create the 512, within rules that loosely made it a road going model. A production minimum of 25 cars, a 5 litre maximum engine capacity, two seats, a spare wheel and, voilà, an icon was born, presented at the Gatto Verde restaurant in the foothills of the Apennines above Maranello in the presence of the automotive press, Forghieri, Regazzoni, Merzario and Giunti. Its initial clean shape was, typically, to evolve very soon during development testing, with various winglets, moustaches and vents sprouting upon the gorgeous shape, curvaceous yet still fully retaining the DNA of its illustrious predecessors. After some shake down runs at Vallelunga, our car, chassis ‘1022’, was one of a batch shipped to Daytona for the 24 hour season opener in January 1970. There, as a fully fledged Ferrari factory entry, driven by Vaccarella/ Giunti with race number 26, it performed well until being sidelined by suspension damage due to the banking; a malady several of the 512s encountered that weekend.
1
It was then readied for the Le Mans 24 hour test days in April, where Ferrari factory ace and that year’s future Formula One World Championship runner-up Jacky Ickx drove it to second fastest time, behind one of the Porsche 917s. Hence that weekend our chassis was very much the lead car in the Ferrari factory’s assault on Le Mans.
Private Portfolio No. 036
1969/71 Ferrari 512M/F Sport Prototipo
Upon the Scuderia’s return to Maranello ‘1022’ was sold to Milanese Corrado Manfredini and his co-d r i v e r Giampiero Moretti (owner of MoMo steering wheels) who urgently needed a replacement for their ‘1032’, which they had just destroyed in a fiery testing accident at Monza. According to detailed research conducted by our car's current owner, Giampiero Moretti had paid Piero Lardi Ferrari for his previous car half in cash and half with a stock of steering wheels! These in fact started the leather steering wheel trend at Ferrari, replacing the classic wooden Nardi items favoured until then. Hence the 512 born as ‘1032’ was officially scrapped by the factory from that day on, with ‘1022’ changing identity and becoming henceforth ‘1032’; this may seem overcomplicated in the 21st century, but back then the bureaucracy of customs and matching a car’s chassis number to its carnet meant that this was the simplest and most expedient way to tackle the issue; what mattered - the only thing that mattered - was for the team to be able to tackle its racing programme as best it could, particularly as the very next event on the calendar was Manfredini and Moretti’s home race, the Monza 1000kms, a highlight of the international calendar. On 25th of that same month, Manfredini and Moretti were joined by the charismatic Arturo Merzario to challenge for the eagerly awaited 1000kms race at the Italian a u t o d r o m o, a prospect that had seemed nigh on impossible when Manfredini watched his car burn to the ground following a fluid leak not many days before. Merzario was drafted in to qualify the car; there was some concern that the engine had been over strained at Le Mans during the test weekend and sure enough the wiry but fast
2
Private Portfolio No. 036
1969/71 Ferrari 512M/F Sport Prototipo
Arturo qualified well, but the engine gave up the ghost as he crossed the line. A fresh motor was fitted for the race and our drivers finished 9th overall and 6th in the 5 litre class after delays and even though they were still using high Le Mans gear ratios. That 1970 season was to be a very busy one for Manfredini-Moretti, incredibly so for a privateer effort. On 3rd May in Jarama with race number 17 they retired; on 17th May back in Italy at the Saline-Volterra hillclimb, a round of the Italian mountain championship, Moretti came 2nd overall and the following weekend he won outright in extreme north eastern Italy at Trieste-Opicina, a remarkable achievement in such a 5 litre leviathan! Typical of the team’s schedule, the next event, in total contrast to narrow, twisty mountain roads, was the vast, flat and superfast expanse of Le Mans, its 13 km including the 5km ligne droite des Hunaudieres, known by English speaking fans as the Mulsanne straight. What lay ahead was not only the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans but the race that to many enthusiasts remains the ultimate edition of l e s 24 heures. The great Porsche-Ferrari duel on its own would have sufficed but this race was also the background for Steve McQueen’s legendary movie Le Mans. Our car can be seen at least once in that cult classic during the start scenes.
3
Top: Vaccarella and Giunti shared ‘1022’ upon its inaugural race outing, here under the Floridian sun at the 1970 Daytona 24 Hours. Middle: At speed, ‘1022’ under the eye of a watchful Daytona marshal. Bottom: 1970 Daytona 24 Hours: the factory team prepare for action, ‘1022’ in the foreground.
Private Portfolio No. 036
1969/71 Ferrari 512M/F Sport Prototipo
Above: April 1971, Monza 1,000Km: Scuderia Filipinetti-entered ‘1022’ leads the Gulf and Martini sponsored Porsche 917Ks.
This battle of the titans was to include no less than eleven 512Ss and a similarly impressive fleet of 917s, as mighty a battle as there has ever been in motor racing. Alas, it was not to be a good weekend for Ferrari. A succession of troubles caused the loss of Vaccarella's factory entry within half an hour, another four 512s went out in one single incident and the worst weather seen at Le Mans in decades didn’t help; Jacky Ickx crashed out of second place at 1.45am. Our car, which was entered by the Swiss Filipinetti team for the race, didn’t finish either. The summer of 1970 was nonetheless to be a good one; after a series of three races in Germany capped by a third place in the first heat of the Norisring 200 miles, it went on to win successively on two continents. First it won the San Giustina Bocca Trabaria hillclimb with Moretti at the wheel. At summer’s end, on the other side of the globe at Mount Fuji, the car achieved the Maranello marque’s first international racing victory in Japan, a result which featured prominently in that year’s Ferrari Yearbook. Nevertheless just one short week and a flight to Italy later our car was racing in Imola for the 500km event where Manfredini came home 6th. A fortnight later, back in the mountains for another hillclimb, the Coppa del Chianti Classico, he was third. Just imagine the scene: Tuscany, a twisty road snaking up the hill and our 512 barking as it tries desperately to rip the asphalt off the soil, spectators shielding their ears as its V12 roar bounces off the scenery… Then, after one final European event at Hockenheim in Germany where it retired, our car was shipped to Brazil for
4
Top: In long tail form, a svelte ‘1022’ at the wet 1970 Le Mans test weekend. Middle: 1970 Monza 1,000Km: the tifosi are out in force for ‘1022’s first race with Manfredini/ Moretti. Bottom: June 1970, Le Mans 24 Hours: ‘1022’ under full power
Private Portfolio No. 036
1969/71 Ferrari 512M/F Sport Prototipo
Above: Still Le Mans 1970, ‘1022’ flashes by the camera.
several races on successive weekends organized at Sao Paulo's Interlagos circuit; a sort of winter race series after the end of the European season. There it took part in the 1000 miles event on 21st November, with its two drivers in a commanding lead before retiring due to a fuel pump failure. Having decided that a fresh engine would be useful, a replacement was ordered from Italy but its delayed arrival meant that the car was not ready for the second or third race weekends. In the fourth, however, the car returned to form to claim 2nd place overall. After an intense year of racing on three continents it was shipped back to the Ferrari factory in Maranello where it was scheduled to be converted to the latest ‘M’ specification. Endemic strikes in Italy caused chaos and eventually led Ferrari to offer Manfredini another chassis, already in 512M form: chassis ‘1050’, prepared using some parts from ‘1032’. With ‘1050’ Manfredini was able to resume his racing season from the Monza 1000kms onwards but it is ‘1032’ which concerns us. Manfredini had thus traded in ‘1032’ for ‘1050’. The former was sold by Ferrari to their old client, Georges Filipinetti’s Geneva based Scuderia Filipinetti, in time for the Monza race. The saying in motorsport is that a racing car is a process, not a vehicle, and that what matters is to produce the best possible result on Sunday afternoon. It has always been common for teams- including Ferrari- to swap parts from car to car between races for the sake of expediency. Thus it was that the chassis and body of ‘1032’ were completed with parts from ‘1048’, which had been crashed by Ronnie Peterson in practice in Argentina a few weeks earlier. This was effectively now a 512S upgraded to full ‘M’ mechanical spec.
5
Top: ‘1022’ enjoys Japanese attention at Mount Fuji. Middle: The sweeping tail of ‘1022’ at Mount Fuji, complete with sponsorship from Japanese model maker Tamiya. Bottom: “Winning at Mount Fujii was the best day of our life” recalled Manfredini. “Every newspaper in Japan related our win. We were stars!”.
Private Portfolio No. 036
1969/71 Ferrari 512M/F Sport Prototipo
‘1032’ was entered for the 1000kms of Monza with Briton Mike Parkes and Swede Joachim Bonnier at the wheel, driving under the Scuderia Flipinetti banner. The pair achieved an amazing result by qualifying fourth, ahead of the Gulf Porsche 917s driven by Siffert and Rodriguez, and ‘1032’ led the pack at the end of the first lap. Parkes’ race ended though when ‘1032’ suffered mechanical problems and he was forced to retire. Under the guidance of this talented British ex-Ferrari engineer and driver, who now ran Filipinetti’s Italian workshop in Formigine, ‘1032’ was then modified along with sister chassis ‘1048’ at the Silinghardi ‘officina’ to what is now known as ‘512F’ specification, featuring a 917 type narrower windscreen for greater speed at high speed circuits such as Le Mans. Once again, sadly, industrial action intervened and the team’s Le Mans entry for ‘1032’ (race no. 5) was cancelled when it became clear the Ferrari factory could not guarantee enough back up spares for the race, much to Georges Filipinetti’s disappointment.
6
That was the end of the professional racing career of ‘1032’ due to the 3 litre engine limit introduced for 1972. After this the car, still in 512F guise, entered private ownership in the UK in 1972, before travelling to the USA, Holland, Belgium and finally entering the present European ownership in 1999. Over the past eight years it has been lovingly restored by the owner’s own race Above: 512M and a works 312PB lead the pack at ‘1022’s final outing, the shop, this work including: chassis 1971 Monza 1,000Km. stripped and all mechanical components rebuilt / overhauled; engine rebuilt with new crankshaft; new pistons, rings, valves, four new camshafts, new distribution gears, chains etc; water pump casting remade in aluminium (more durable- original supplied). The fuel metering unit has also just been overhauled. The block is rare in not having signs of welding whilst the Le Mans 1970 scrutineering stamps are still visible. The engine has run just one hour since completion of this work.
Private Portfolio No. 036
1969/71 Ferrari 512M/F Sport Prototipo
The gearbox (no.14), documented as ex-Moretti/ Scuderia Filipinetti, has been fully rebuilt and a new set of drive shafts fitted (the original ones stamped ‘1022’ are available). Car set-up has been carried out by Edi Wyss with input from driver David Franklin. This winter the original Ko n i shocks have been overhauled and calibrated; the springs replaced; plus new discs and pads. On 28th June 2006 the car was certified by the Ferrari factory with Certificato di Autenticità no. 249 and the chassis number returned to its original ‘1022’ which officially puts its history beyond any doubt. Since then it has been raced just once in the Ferrari Historic Challenge and is now run in and ready to race. This iconic Ferrari Sport Pr o t o t i p o, driven by some of the greatest heroes of its era and with a lengthy curriculum vitae, needs only a new owner to continue its successful competition career around the world.
Above: Certificate of Authenticity. Kidston SA 7 Avenue Pictet-de-Richemont 1207 Genève, Switzerland Tel +41 22 740 1939 Fax +41 22 740 1945 info@kidston.com www.kidston.com
7